My first day in school was a Monday. I went to each class with the class register and mentioned the names of the pupils so I can assign faces to their names. I went to the JHS two class and did the same. Everyone responded “Present” until I got to Efua’s name. Immediately I mentioned her name almost everyone in the class chorused, “Absent!” and then they laughed. I asked them, “Who is she and where is she?” One of the boys said, “She didn’t come to school today. She doesn’t like coming to school.” I marked her name down. For three days in a role, she didn’t come to school. Any time I asked about her they laughed. A girl told me, “Sir, I live closer to her in the same neighbourhood. I told her you’ve been asking about her but she doesn’t care.”

The following day she came to school. She didn’t need to introduce herself to me. Immediately I stepped into the class, they all started screaming while pointing at her, “Sir, she’s here. She has come to school today.” I mentioned her name and she stood up. One beautiful girl with the colour and sharpness of a city girl. She looked different. Her school inform looked well catered for than all the rest. There was an intention in the way she dressed and even her haircut was different. I said, “A beautiful girl like you and you don’t like coming to school?” She smiled shyly while covering half of her face. “Sir, I wasn’t well,” she said. The class screamed, “She’s lying!” She turned to the class and took them on. “I don’t like that your silly konkonsa. How did you know I wasn’t sick? Are you in my house?”

“She isn’t a soft girl too,” I said in my head. To cut the class drama off I told her, “See me after class.”

When the lesson was over, I held her hand and walked out of the class with her. She said, “Sir, you have to believe me. I’ve been sick for a while now. No one came to visit me but they had the gut to lie to you that I wasn’t sick.” I asked her, “So if I take you home right now, will your parents accept what you’re saying as the truth?” She screamed confidently, “Yes, my mom will be my witness.” I told her not to skip school again. “You’re well now, thank God. But I will be watching you. If you miss school once, you’ll have me to contend with. Your future looks very bright but you’ll have to learn hard to be able to turn on the switch of your future.” She nodded and slipped out of my grip.

She didn’t miss school again but she came to school just because I was watching her. Other teachers didn’t have good things to say about her. Because I was monitoring her, she took my subject seriously. When I gave them homework, she submitted hers on time. When I told them there would be class work the following day, she did her best to score an average mark. I saw the effort and commended her but I later realized that the effort was only in my subject alone and not the other teachers. I pushed her to put the same effort into others too. In fact, she became my favourite girl in that class.

If I had to send someone, she was the one I sent. If I asked a question in class, she was the first person I asked to answer. If I put a problem on the board, she was the one I asked to walk to the board and solve it. When I had to punish the class, she was the one I punished first. One evening she called my phone. I asked her, “How did you get my number?” She answered, “I collected it from Sir Andoh. He lives around here so I asked him and he gave it to me.” I asked what the issue was and the reason she was calling in the evening and she answered, “I don’t think I can come to school tomorrow or tomorrow’s next or even the next one. For some time now I’ve been coming to school without money because my mom says she doesn’t have it. I suffer when I come to school.”

I said, “If it’s money, just come and I will give you money.” 

So that week, I took care of her but it got to a point I thought it wasn’t right for me to do that. I was like, “What if she’s lying just to get money from me?” So I took her home to meet her mother. I told her the same story Efua told me. Her mother’s answer was, “As you can see, this is not the home of a rich mother. I’m the only one taking care of six children. She’s the only one in school so she takes a lot from me. Sometimes I can’t keep up so I ask her to stay home.” 

Her story was true and it broke my heart so I decided to help with the little that I have. I gave her pocket money and gave her advice to soldier on until she completes JHS. And then I heard rumours that some of the male teachers had been having their way with her. The teacher who gave her my number was one of them. I wasn’t shocked but it depressed me. I asked her and she denied it but from what I saw and heard, I couldn’t doubt it. Some of the female teachers told me, “Or you also want to have her? If not, then why should you care?” 

The word was, “Also.” That means there had been others.

I pushed her until she opened up to me. She couldn’t confirm what was going on between her and some of the teachers. I guess she was scared I would confront them or something so she only said, “From now onward, I won’t entertain any teacher again.” She confirmed that she had a boyfriend in another school and also confirmed she had a boyfriend in the school but it was over between them. I sighed. She was only fifteen years old. All she needed was guidance and she would do well in school. They told me she was daft but when I put pressure on her she picked up.

One day, I was marking her work when I saw a paper folded in two halves in the middle of her book. It was a letter addressed to me. Immediately I saw it I laughed in my head. I was happy she could try her hands on letter-writing and I presumed she was writing the letter to ask for a favour she was shy to ask personally from me;

Dear Sir, 

Thank you that you care for me but I know that you like me but don’t want to tell me. Is it because you heard another teacher was in my life? Or is because I told you about my boyfriend in the other school? I have changed. I don’t like that boy again so I told him and he left me with anger but I don’t care. Since you came to this school, you’re the only person I think of. I am waiting for you to say it but you’re not saying it so I’m saying it. I’m not a small girl. I won’t tell anyone. It will be a secret so don’t be afraid that other teachers will know. I love you because you’re very kind and caring. Don’t look at me someway when you see me in school tomorrow. It will make me shy. 

Thank you.

Efua.

It was funny but it was sad too. It confirmed everything I heard about her. The next day when I saw her in school I didn’t talk to her. I went to her class, taught, and walked away. Even when she raised up her hand to answer questions, I didn’t call her. After school, I called her and gave her the strongest warning never to try that with me again. In hindsight, I shouldn’t have been that coarse with her but I thought it was the only way to reset her mind. She was crying while I was insulting her left and right. I didn’t finish when she walked away. 

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The following day she didn’t come to school. The day after that day she didn’t come to school. The next day too the same. I started getting worried. I felt I had pushed her too far and she was embarrassed to come to school again so I went to her house the fourth day that I didn’t see her in school. She had just returned from the market with her mother. Her mom offered me a seat and I sat down. I told her the reason I was there and concluded, “I came to check why Efua hasn’t been in school all week.” Her mom answered, “She said it’s because of you. She told me she’s no longer interested in school because of what you did to her.” I asked the mother if she was aware of the whole story and she said, “But if a woman tells you she likes you and you don’t like her, do you have to insult her?” 

I was taken aback. “Her mom too is aware and she’s condoning it?” From the way the conversation went, I concluded that it was the mother who pushed her to do what she did. I picked the nuances from her own statements and made that conclusion. At some point, she said, “You don’t like her but you won’t allow her to do what she wants to do too so how do you expect her to still be in school? I can’t give her everything and it’s the reason she’s home now.” 

I felt like crying but I told them I was sorry; “I went too far with my words. I was too hard on her but allow her to come to school. Nothing has changed. I will still support her with the little that I have.” 

I continued pushing until she was able to complete school. I was waiting to see her results and see how she would manage the next level of her life but I was scared for her too. Their results didn’t come until I left the school to pursue a higher dream for myself. She came to mind every now and then. I called the female teachers in the school and asked them to check on her for me. At some point, they started suspecting I was having something to do with the girl so I stopped calling them until we lost touch. The last time I spoke to a teacher about her was in 2018. 

I went to the district education office recently and decided to pass there and look for her. I went to their house and saw her mother. She couldn’t even make me out. After the introduction and everything, I asked where Efua was and how she was doing and she said, “She followed a man to the city and she hadn’t come again. She calls every once in a while. I hope she’s doing well.” I asked her, “Can I have her number?” She said, “It’s her senior brother who has the number but he’s not around.” I asked her, “Do you have the number of the senior brother?” She answered, “No.”

The way she said it felt like she was trying to hide something so I said goodbye and left the village. Every now and then she comes to mind. I wonder about her and ask myself how she’s doing wherever she is, “Is she ok? Is life treating her kindly? Who is that man? Is she married to him?” When I catch myself thinking about her, I smile and tell myself, “Move on, boy. It’s been years already.”

–Alpha

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